Jamia Millia Islamia University

We condemn the brutal crackdown on dissent and protest which has accompanied India’s Covid-19 lockdown. The Modi government has launched a witch-hunt of students and activists and is charging them under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The Government of India must stop the crackdown on dissenting voices. The use of India’s primary counter-terrorism law UAPA against two students involved in protests against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act is an extension of the crackdown on anyone who is critical of the state.

Dal Khalsa on Monday condemned Delhi Govt for arresting Jamia Millia Islamia University students and activists, who spearheaded protests against the amendments to the Citizenship Act, and demanded from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the administration to not indulge in witch-hunting.

In response to the brutal crackdown on student protests across the country who are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Executive Director of Amnesty India, Avinash Kumar said: “Students have the right to protest. Violence against peacefully protesting students cannot under any circumstance be justified.

When Nazi Germany passed the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, they made it illegal for non-Germans to be citizens. Germans to prove that they had Aryan ancestry. India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill mirrors those Nazi laws. Instead of segregating people by genetics, it segregates them by religion. It makes religion the basis for citizenship.

As the new citizenship law has triggered a subcontinent-wide agitation, the students of Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar came out to protest against the violence unleashed by police on their fellow students at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University campus.

Criticising police action against students of Jamia Millia Islamia University of New Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University, the Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) has announced to hold a demonstration in Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) in Amritsar.